BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

The Republican candidate for the St. Lawrence County legislature’s District 5 says he believes in limited government and feels the county should continue to keep a healthy fund balance.

Harry Smithers of Gouverneur currently holds the seat representing Gouverneur and DeKalb. He was appointed to it in July to replace Henry Leader, who resigned from the board. He owns Smithers Tire, but isn’t as involved in the business nowadays and says he has more free time.

“I am a Republican because I believe in … a government that’s not going overboard with rules and regulations, but a limited government, enough to protect the freedoms we have and ensure safety of its citizens,” Smithers said. “I’ve been endorsed by the Conservative party … I agree with a lot of their statement of purposes also.”

The county in the past few years has accumulated a significant fund balance, well over $20 million. He says they should preserve that level.

“I would say try to preserve it at its current level,” he said. Fund balance is important to have. The state is not doing very well financially. They keep shifting more costs to the county. The finances are kind of unreliable right now. It’s hard to predict what’s going to happen in the coming future, the next few years.”

“I don’t want to see it go down too much, but comparable with the level it is now,” the GOP incumbent said. “My tenure has been kind of short so far, but that’s the view I have of it.”

Tied to the fund balance are ongoing sales tax distribution negotiations. The sales tax charged by the county was originally intended to offset state mandated costs, specifically Medicaid. For decades, the county collected 3% on each dollar, while the state collected 4%.

In 2013, St. Lawrence County successfully convinced state lawmakers to collect an extra 1%, increasing total sales tax in the county from 7 to 8%.

Ogdensburg and St. Lawrence County have been negotiating the sales tax distribution formula for some time. Both sides recently agreed to keep the formula as is for one year as details on how best to distribute the taxes are hammered out.

He says he’s still learning a lot about the sales tax negotiation issue, but thinks the extra 1% the county collects could be up for negotiation.

“I think that last 1% is something that could be negotiable. I’m going to leave that to the negotiators … to see what happens to that last 1% on the county level,” he said. “I’m willing to negotiate that last 1%. Not as much as the mayor of the City of Ogdensburg wants. I thought he was a little heavy handed in demanding his approach to negotiations, from my experience.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t see his point of view that Ogdensburg is in a crisis and St. Lawrence County could examine ways to help the city out,” Smithers said.

He suggested the county could find other ways to work with Ogdensburg to help with their financial problems.

“There’s other ways. They’re talking about dispatch service being shifted from the city to the county. That’s one item being discussed now,” he said.

He has past experience on the Gouverneur Central School District Board of Education.

“I don‘t have a specific agenda. I’m just looking to do public service. I enjoyed my time on the school board. This is a similar kind of service, but the county is a lot bigger than the school district. I think my experience would be helpful in doing the job of legislator,” Smithers said.

He says although he is endorsed by Republicans and Conservatives, he is willing to listen to his Democratic colleagues and come to his own conclusions on the issues.

“I believe I have a mind of my own and listen to various points of view, listen to the Democratic point of view. I don’t agree in some of the recent years with the [Democratic party] shifting to more kind of left ideas. I have an independent thinking mind and I can make up my mind about things that come out,” he said. “I will not be afraid to disagree with someone else’s point of view, in a respectful way.”